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Discuss the US Presidential Election & Health Care
Yesterday we discussed the war and how foreign policy will matter in your decision next Tuesday. Today our series of election discussion pieces continues with Health Care. With an obesity epidemic, a failing economy, and ballooning health care costs, which candidate has the best answers to making sure that Americans are able to stay healthy without America being bankrupted in the process?
Alright, after reading a bit on both their websites, I'm going to try to state the facts and my opinion.
McCain : Actually puts numbers out there on how much you're going to "save" according to your tax bracket. But it's confusing to me how one column is showing a flat tax credit of $5,000 for this and then another column (after factoring something called "Income Tax Liability") showing what you save. He concentrates on guaranteeing me a "Better than Congressman" health care plan when I have no idea in hell what kind of health care they get. He also spends more time talking about Obama's health care plan than his own--which I would prefer to read myself and draw my own conclusions. I guess he focuses more on "net tax benefit" to each tax payer which sounds very enticing from a utilitarian standpoint.
Obama : First off, his health care page has a lot of really bland generic bullshit slurry--quite different from his Iraq withdrawal plan. While he doesn't spend anytime attacking McCain's plan, I don't see how some of these bullets are going to do anything for Health Care. Every talking point sounds good but nowhere do I see a plan of A) how/when this will be implemented or B) what the net effect will really be. For example: "Reduce the costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees." What is a "catastrophic illness"? Reduce by how much? Who's footing this bill? What percentage is going to the employer Vs the employee? While he offers some lengthy PDFs on his site (that I don't have a lot of time to read), I'm skeptical he has any objective, measurable, attainable goals.
So that's my quick take on this topic. Honestly, I'm not impressed with either candidate. I give a nod to McCain for actually throwing some numbers out there and wonder where the $2,500 per family figure is coming from in Obama's promises. This isn't going to factor into my voting because the roots of this. I grew up on MinnesotaCare so I'm probably going to lean toward the plan that makes the most of providing basic health care to those who can't afford it. My parents never could have afforded vaccinations and I don't think I ever went to the hospital aside from that. Others aren't so lucky. Call me biased or misinformed but I don't see either candidate really doing anything creative/ingenious with health care to the point of it being worth arguing over.
My work here is dung.
Got some numbers on Cuba's healthcare being a failure?
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Cuba
References the World Health Organisation.
Despite the US embargo on Cuba.
Dude, you just fucked up. Cuba's health system is the best in "Latin" America, and is in many ways better then the USA's. Tell me how that is a failure?
I wank in the shower.
Wow - you criticize Obama for not providing the details, but when you remark that he has lengthy PDFs you don't want to bother to read. Either you've already made up your mind and are just rationalizing your opinion, or you don't really care enough about the topic to do your research.
At least you admit to having bias, but then I fail to see anything meaningful at all in what you wrote. At the very least, you should said that you don't have enough information to make a sound judgment on the topic, which is fine. Unfortunately, the norm is that people don't want to admit that, and would rather just make up some reasons for their opinions rather than admit they don't know.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
That's a foreign concept in the US these days.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
This topic is one close to my heart... in several ways. I have very personal experience with Socialized Medicine. You see, I'm Canadian, for those of you not familiar with your neighbours to the north, we have a Socialized Medicine system. I've lived under it's jack boots all my life. I have too many stories to cover in this one post. In Canada socialized medicine is an unmitigated disaster. Unless you live in a large population center or in one of the richer areas in Canada you won't get good care. Myself I live in a rural area in New Brunswick, and the 'health care' that Canada offers hear is unacceptable. I actually got a job in the US 'just' to get health insurance. Where I live the closet Canadian hospital is over an hour and fifteen minutes away, there is 1 medical center in my area, open 2 days a week. Only one of those days does a doctor actually operate out of the clinic. I'll give you my own most recent experiences with that system. I was rushed to the near by US Hospital (thank you US Health Insurance), with heart issues a while back. Treated and released for my condition (Aterial Fib as it's called) a day later. I was instructed to see a Cardiologist ASAP to figure out what causes the issue. I contacted Canadian medicare and was told that the closest appointment they could give me was EIGHT MONTHS away. It would be another SIX MONTHS after the consult to have any testing I needed done then another SIX MONTHS to see the doctor for my results. Realize at this point I had no idea what was wrong with me... I could've been dead the next day from it. I promptly hung up the phone and contacted the nearest Cardiologist in the US. This was a Thursday... I was scheduled for the following Monday @ 8:30. I was taken care of and all prudent testing was done over the span of that week, and the week following. My condition identified and treatment was rendered. I encourage people to debate me on Socialized Medicine, I'm all too well versed in it's use. Frankly I can see how on the surface Socialized Medicine would look appealing to people, but once you get underneath to the meat of the matter... it becomes a scary reality. The simple fact of the matter is in a socialist health care system you are at the mercy of the government in terms of your overall health care. I know too many friends and family that have been mistreated, and some killed by negligence on the part of the state in these matters. It is NOT a good system, in practice.
I agree. I'm a doctor in Spain and the system works exactly that way. Here it's not the insurance companies, but the "benevolent health system" that press us into delaying or denying tests and treatments to people. The exact people that see a nice amount of their income substracted de facto by the health system.
Those that want (and can) go to the private system to get things done ASAP. They are paying double, though: to the public system which they can't renounce and to the private system.
Still, nothing can beat the fact the public system is obliged to receive and trat you as long as you're alive. But once inside it's not the money but the "I know someone inside" or "I'll file a complaint" that will get you the best bed, the shortest queue or the specialists you want.
I'd like to see a truthful example of this from a reputable insurance company. I had an over $100k back and spinal surgery done on a pre-existing motorcycle accident, (broken L2 and L3) from 4 years before I got insurance. I payed the $10 co-pay for the first visit and that was it. I have no problems getting insurance even though I survived.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.